


House of Cards

by hearteating



Category: Good Girls (TV)
Genre: Crimes & Criminals, Desk Sex, F/M, Post-Season/Series 01, Secrets
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-17
Updated: 2018-11-17
Packaged: 2019-08-24 21:33:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,856
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16648217
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hearteating/pseuds/hearteating
Summary: Beth doesn't tell anyone about the new arrangement.





	House of Cards

**Author's Note:**

  * For [perdiccas](https://archiveofourown.org/users/perdiccas/gifts).



> Happy Yuletide!

She doesn't tell Annie or Ruby about what happened the night Rio came to her house. After all, Annie finally seems to be in a good place, and Ruby doesn't need anything else to worry about. So Beth doesn't tell them about how she pointed a gun at Rio's head and the world narrowed to just the two of them, or how when she pulled the trigger there was just an empty click.

She definitely doesn't tell them how she wasn't sure if she was disappointed or relieved when it turned out the gun was empty.

 

* * *

Dean crumpled forward onto the table in a faint and Rio let out a low whistle.

“Didn't think you had it in you,” he said, mouth twisting to the side in an almost-smile. He stood and walked over to her, standing too close as he took the gun back. “Not bad for a soccer mom.”

“When will you stop underestimating me?” hissed Beth, glaring up at him. Rio bit the inside of his cheek and looked her up and down.

“I'll call you.” With that, he headed towards the door.

“What do you mean?” Beth turned to face him.

“I _mean_ , I'll call you,” Rio repeated, holding a hand up to his ear like a phone, as if she was too stupid to understand the words on their own. Then he left, and Dean groaned, and Beth had to clean up the mess and come up with another lie.

 

* * *

She doesn't tell them any of that.

And because she doesn't tell them about that, she doesn't tell them when Rio calls, either. How he makes her wait three months. How they meet in front of the Fine 'N Frugal, because Rio thinks he's hilarious. Or he wants to remind her how this whole situation started. Or some completely different reason. She's still figuring him out. (She doesn't tell them she _wants_ to figure him out, even though she thinks Annie, at least, has guessed.)

 

* * *

“I got a job for you,” he said. No hello or anything. “You're not gonna like it, but you're gonna do it.”

“Excuse me?”

“Yeah, this is how it works now. No more big ideas, sweetheart, not after you pulled that shit with the Feds. You do the jobs I tell you, when I tell you.”

“What?” Beth demanded. “For how long?”

“Until I stop telling you.” Rio shrugged. He put a hand on her shoulder. “Don't worry; this one's an easy one.”

Beth worked her jaw for a moment, biting back all the questions and insults at the tip of her tongue. 

“What's the job?” she asked, instead.

He told her. He was right. She didn't like it. But he was also right that she could do it-- that she would do it. 

“I'll call you,” he said, just like the last time, and turned to go. Beth opened the door to her car, and stopped.

“Why?” she called after him. “Why didn't you just-?” she cut herself off before she could ask why Rio hadn't killed her in the middle of a grocery store parking lot. She heard him sigh, watched as he spun on a heel and walk back over to her, annoyance written all over his face.

“Why didn't I kill you? Hm? Is that what you were gonna ask?” He stooped a little, to make sure she couldn't avoid his eyes. His face was very close. He did that a lot, she thought distantly. 

Beth nodded. Rio laughed.

“Maybe it's because you're right; people will notice if some PTA mom winds up dead, and I sure as hell don't need any more publicity.” He stepped forward. Beth stepped back. “Maybe it's 'cause I like you. Or maybe,” he stepped forward again. Beth pressed back against her car. Rio leaned in to murmur in her ear. “Maybe it's 'cause there are orders to take out you, your girls, and all your families if I get taken down again, so I'm not too worried right now about leaving you alive.” He stepped back. “Have a nice night, Beth.”

Beth's pulse was racing. She tried not to think about why.

 

* * *

It turns out lying becomes a habit. It turns out Beth is a better liar than she thought, because Annie and Ruby haven't pried too far beyond the excuses she gives them for the odd times she's gone, and Dean's not even in the house these days to wonder. And because they don't ask, she doesn't have to tell them about how she's pulling jobs for Rio (stupid jobs that don't require thinking. It's punishment, she knows, but that doesn't mean it doesn't chafe. Beth is wasted here; Rio knows that).

Even if they ask, though, even if she tells them about that night, about the Fine 'N Frugal, about all the jobs, she's never going to tell them about this.

 

* * *

“Take it,” Beth said, throwing the package she'd just retrieved at Rio. He caught it, rolling his eyes, and put it on the shelf with a dozen other similar packages. Beth was pretty sure it was drugs, but she hadn't asked. She figured it was safer that way.

“Thanks,” he replied, and bent back over his notebook. Usually that was it-- job done, he'll call her, don't let the door hit her on the way out. But tonight had been a close call, and the adrenaline had Beth wanting to push.

“A cop stopped me on the way here, you know,” she said.

“Uh huh, that right?” Rio kept making notes. Keeping accounts, probably.

“It's because you've gotten sloppy,” she continued. “Picking up at the same place all the time; you really think no one's going to notice?”

“Sloppy.” Rio put down his pen and stared at her. He was pissed, but she didn't care.

“Yes, sloppy,” insisted Beth. “What happened to 'flipping your game'? You're not stupid, Rio, but this? What you have me doing? It's stupid.”

“You're right,” Rio said. “I'm not stupid. You don't know all the shit I've got going on, so don't pretend like you know what I should and shouldn't be doing.”

Beth opened her mouth to snap back at him; he held up a hand.

“But if the cops are starting to notice, maybe you're right about me needing to change things up some.”

“I am right,” replied Beth. “And you should ask the guys on the other end to stop packaging everything the same way. The paper and duct tape? Looks like every stereotype of drug trafficking on TV. Try some wrapping paper, or a grocery bag.”

Rio cocked his head and laughed. His tongue swiped across his lower lip.

“You really get off on all this, don't you?” he asked.

And Beth, feeling reckless, answered.

“Not yet, actually.” It wasn't exactly smooth, but she didn't really care. She was feeling restless, and dangerous, and she wanted to see how far she could push Rio. “You know, I've been doing this, what, over a year now? And I don't think I can think of a single time I've gotten off when it wasn't just me.”

Rio licked his lips again. He glanced at the packages, and then back at Beth.

“Seriously? First you try to screw me over, now you're trying to screw me?” Rio laughed again, disbelieving. 

Beth raised her eyebrows. She didn't think she was wrong about this. She still didn't understand Rio, but she knew him better now. And she knew how he looked at her. She'd been doing some looking of her own.

Rio came around from behind his desk to stand in front of her. He loomed-- that was the right word for it.

“You got a lot of nerve,” he said.

“Yeah, I do.” She met his eyes. “It's why we both know I'm not going to be doing these shitty jobs forever.” Beth smiled and cocked her head. “It's why you like me.”

“Oh, really?”

She didn't know who started it, but it didn't matter, because then his mouth was on hers. Rio pressed her hard against the desk, hands on her hips and fingers digging into her ass. Beth hopped up to sit on it and grabbed at Rio's neck to pull him closer.

He squeezed her ass and she moaned in response. She pulled down the zipper on his stupid hoodie and pushed down the sleeves. Rio let his hoodie drop and moved to pull her shirt over her head, dipping his head to bite at the tops of her breasts.

“Come on,” Beth said, tugging at his pants. He snorted and pushed her hands away to take care of it himself. She took the moment to tug up her skirt over her hips. She didn't bother taking off her underwear, just pulled it aside in time for Rio to step forward between her legs and thrust into her.

They didn't talk after that beyond demands for more or moans of satisfaction. Beth raked her nails down Rio's back as he sucked hickeys into her neck. He pounded into her, rougher than Dean ever had, and Beth could feel her orgasm building hotter and faster than she could remember. 

She hitched a leg around Rio's waist, pulling him closer and letting him thrust deeper into her. He ground his hips against hers and raked his teeth over her collarbone.

Beth came with a gasp, her breath catching in her throat as she shuddered and clenched around him. She saw Rio smile, sharp and satisfied, and he sped up his movements. For the moment, sensitive and fuzzy-headed from orgasm, all Beth could do was hold on, one hand tight around his neck and one clutching at his back. His movements lost their rhythm and he groaned as he came inside her. Beth couldn't hold back a laugh-- this was exactly the sort of thing she'd get pissed at Annie about, but damn if it didn't feel good.

Rio pulled out and stepped back, breathing heavily. Beth smiled hazily at him for a moment before she stood back up. She winced a bit-- she'd have to stretch out when she got home or her back would kill her the next day-- and found her shirt. In less than a minute she'd straightened her skirt, fixed her hair and lipstick and retrieved her car keys.

When she looked back at him, Rio was staring down at his notebook. His mouth twisted the way it did when he was pissed off and thinking. He hadn't bothered to put his hoodie back on.

“Go,” he said. He scrubbed a hand over his face. Beth didn't think she'd ever seen him this rattled. “I-”

“I know.” Beth cut him off. She smirked. “You'll call me.”

 

* * *

She's not naive enough to think she can keep up a double life forever, or that one screw means Rio's going to forget she set him up. Beth knows that one day she'll tell Annie and Ruby about what she's doing, although she hopes it isn't for a while longer. There's a lot at stake.

But she knows what she wants, and she's in it to win.


End file.
